It was the same location, just a different time, and the scenery was different.
The thread Jinnian was spinning at this moment belonged to the sunset.
Compared to the Dawn Thread, the Twilight Thread collected from the sunset sea of clouds had a different feel.
Although not completely opposite, there was a significant difference.
In terms of color, the Twilight was also beautiful, but compared to the Dawn, the latter had a cooler tone, leaning towards green, blue, and even purple.
The Twilight, on the other hand, was entirely warm-toned, with orange as its main color, along with brilliant gold and a touch of pink.
If the Dawn was full of vitality and hope, then the Twilight spread romance and regret across the world.
The last glimmer of light disappeared as Jinnian savored it, and darkness once again enveloped the entire sky within his view.
He did not linger and turned to leave.
Although night had fallen, dawn would surely follow.
Tomorrow's sun would rise as usual, and he would come again.
His main task in coming to Qingyun Mountain was this, although it had gone more smoothly than he had expected. Still, he had only just begun, and all three threads were still in their initial stages.
He would make use of any advantage he could get.
The graduation trip was planned for three days and three nights. They had arrived at Qingyun Mountain in the evening, and after a night's rest, Jinnian had completed his first visualization and spinning, obtaining three threads on the same day.
He still had two more days.
This meant he could use the advantage of Qingyun Mountain to accelerate his progress two more times.
He believed that by the end of the third day, his three threads would have progressed beyond their initial stages.
However, if nothing went wrong, something would go wrong.
On the second day, as the sunset faded, Jinnian had once again accelerated the spinning of the Twilight thread and was about to leave when something unexpected happened.
His step out of the pavilion was ordinary, but his spiritual sense told him he had passed through an invisible membrane.
Or perhaps it was some kind of boundary?
Jinnian immediately froze.
The world before his eyes looked the same, but his spiritual sense told him he had entered another world, one that might be dangerous.
No, the danger had already arrived!
His spinning wheel trembled slightly, as if warning him, and his spiritual sense screamed out, demonstrating towards the clouds in the night sky.
Jinnian calmly retreated back into the pavilion.
He hadn't yet figured out the cause of this series of changes. Was it because he had triggered something? Or was it another supernatural event?
While pondering these questions, Jinnian did not sit idle.
Knowing that danger was imminent, doing nothing and surrendering was not his style.
He pulled out the two threads representing Cloud and Twilight from his spinning wheel, turning them into power in his hands.
The ethereal mist was drawn by the Cloud thread, condensing into countless fine threads like silk, wrapping and enclosing the pavilion. The Twilight thread wrapped around his body as a precaution.
This way, although not foolproof, he wouldn't be caught off guard due to negligence.
He didn't have to wait long before he heard clear movements in the mist.
There are many of them.
The noisy movements in the mist and the shadows cast by the monsters' bodies made Jinnian's expression somewhat grim.
He wasn't sure of their strength or whether his threads would be effective against them. He didn't understand what was happening.
Roars and panting sounds, like those of wild beasts, rose and fell.
Amidst Jinnian's vigilance, the first monster emerged from the mist and lunged at the pavilion without hesitation.
Then came the second, the third, the fourth...
These monsters, resembling a kind of hunchbacked monkey, were even more twisted and hideous, constantly dripping black-gray mucus from their bodies.
They even left trails of it!
They didn't bother with any threatening displays; they just attacked with their teeth, flinging more mucus as they swung their forelimbs.
Then they were stopped by the barrier of threads condensed from the mist.
They frantically bit at the threads, the outermost layers breaking like fabric or evaporating as they neutralized the mucus. The barrier was then replenished by the mist and restored.
Jinnian, who had been trying to escape, paused. He hadn't expected these creatures to be all bark and no bite, looking ferocious but actually quite weak.
He also hadn't expected the temporary threads he spun from his source line to be so effective.
Looking at the hideous monsters surrounding the pavilion in layers, Jinnian temporarily gave up the idea of breaking out.
He thought for a moment, then manipulated the mist to condense more temporary Cloud threads, covering the ground beneath his feet and even the sky above. Then he attempted to counterattack.
The ethereal mist, under an unknown force, turned into silk threads, which then gathered into a rope.
These semi-transparent ropes with a white-gold hue entangled the frenzied monsters, binding and crushing them one by one.
The dead monsters quickly decayed and turned to ashes.
The ropes that completed the killing became more transparent due to the consumption of power, but they quickly recovered with the replenishment of the surrounding mist and entangled the next enemy.
Throughout this process, the Twilight thread never left his body.
Jinnian frowned slightly, 'Disappeared?'
He didn't find this particularly strange. He himself possessed supernatural powers, so it wasn't surprising that monsters would disappear after death.
He was just considering what might be causing this.
If these monsters resurrected quickly after death or enhanced the power of other monsters, he would need to find a way to stop it.
Of course, if this was a normal phenomenon, he wouldn't have to worry. He just needed to find a way to use the geographical advantage to eliminate all these monsters.
Through Jinnian's observation and experience, the results weren't too bad.
Although these monsters continued to emerge from the mist, their frequency hadn't increased abnormally and remained relatively stable.
Their strength also hadn't shown any significant changes.
Clearly, the death of their kind hadn't brought about any changes. They hadn't become stronger, nor had they shown any emotions like fear or laziness.
Jinnian breathed a sigh of relief, then used these monsters to practice and improve his control over his supernatural powers, aiming to reach a level of micro-control.
Power was not only about having it but also about knowing how to use it.
He didn't want to be a fool who could only rely on brute force.
Just as Jinnian was busy dealing with the monsters, the Guardian Alliance, responsible for guarding the Inner World, also noticed the situation at Qingyun Mountain.
Or rather, this organization had put great effort into monitoring and controlling every movement in the Inner World to maintain the world's balance and stability.
Jinnian, as a Newcomer who had accidentally entered the Inner World, had no idea that the fluctuations of his spiritual power were like a beacon in the night to these Inner World monsters.
It was necessary to hide this at times.
Otherwise, he would face an endless horde of monsters.
Fortunately, Qingyun Mountain was not a densely populated area in the Outer World. Additionally, the Guardian Alliance issued some extermination tasks and commissions, and individuals or small groups would occasionally come to clean up. This prevented Qingyun Mountain from accumulating too many powerful monsters, or Jinnian might have faced even greater danger.
In the Guardian Alliance, the organization responsible for monitoring and providing information on the Inner World, the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion, discovered Jinnian's situation and understood most of it.
This kind of situation was not common, but it was normal.
Although the alliance had organizations dedicated to guiding and finding successors in advance, it was normal for one or two to slip through the cracks and accidentally awaken their inheritance.
The person on duty at the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion quickly compiled the information they had gathered and submitted it to the alliance's task list.
Emergency Task: Bring Back the Newcomer
Location: Qingyun Mountain
Basic Information: The Newcomer is surrounded by a large number of corrupted monsters. They are currently safe due to their abilities. Overall performance is assessed as excellent. Before submitting the task, the acceptor must provide basic information about the Inner World to the Newcomer.
Task Reward: Thirty points.
Due to the urgency, and the friendly attitude of most alliance members towards Newcomers, many support policies had been developed over time.
Otherwise, a task of similar difficulty would only reward five points at most.
Whether it was out of goodwill towards the Newcomer or the high point reward, this emergency task became highly sought after.
Generally, to accept this kind of urgent support task, there was a certain distance limit. After all, if the person was too far away, they might be in deep trouble by the time someone arrived.
However, there was a class of people with the ability to move or teleport quickly over long distances. They could basically ignore this distance limitation.
This time, the task of guiding the Newcomer was accepted by such a person who happened to be free.
Upon seeing that the task had been accepted, the person on duty at the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion glanced at it, 'It was accepted by Mirror Immortal? If she has the time for this, does it mean the recent Void Spirit surge has been resolved? Let me check...'
Meanwhile, Mirror Immortal, who had casually accepted the task out of boredom, had already arrived at the Inner World region of Qingyun Mountain via mirror teleportation.
However, she did not immediately appear before Jinnian. Instead, she silently observed.
As one of the founders of the alliance, no one understood better than her the pressure faced by humanity, or rather, the successors.
If the alliance failed to suppress the Inner World, and the two worlds fell out of balance, the endless Void Spirits of the Inner World would invade the Outer World.
At that time, disaster would surely strike.
Every new successor who appeared, as long as they were not antisocial, was a precious comrade.
Through her brief observation, Mirror Immortal saw that the young man before her was an excellent talent.
Facing such a significant change, he remained calm and handled it well. Although his ability did not seem to be of the direct combat type, his increasingly skilled use of techniques indicated a promising future.
He would undoubtedly become a key figure in suppressing the Inner World.
Confirming this, Mirror Immortal did not wait any longer. She raised her hand and cast a giant bronze mirror over the sky of Qingyun Mountain.
Under the mirror's light, the low-level Void Spirits swarming the mountain disappeared like snow in spring.
Under the mirror's light, Qingyun Mountain, which had been like a nest of evil spirits, returned to its former scenic beauty, as if it were a natural scenic spot in the Outer World.
Jinnian noticed this and then saw the figure that suddenly appeared not far from the pavilion, without any attempt to hide. He first breathed a sigh of relief, then tensed up again.
Clearly, the previous trouble had been resolved by this person.
But whether this person would become a new problem remained to be seen.
Recalling the other's methods, Jinnian braced himself.
He hoped not.